I saw this old building along the River Rasin in the southeast Michigan town of Deerfield. I am guessing it was some sort of grain elevator or somthing agraculture related, but I am not sure. Deefield was first settled by William Kedzie in 1828 who named the town Kedzie’s Grove. It was renamed to Deerfield in 1837. The name came from the numerous deer in the area.
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This old mill stands the River Raisin in Dundee. It was built in Alfred Wilkerson in 1848 with a dam made out of logs. It was built as a grist mill to grind grain. In 1910, the mill was sold to the Dundee Hydraulic Power Company, which built a concrete dam and converted it into a power plant to provide electricity for the community.
About a decade later, Detroit Edison acquired the building and abandoned it. It stood empty for several years and was slated to be torn down when Henry Ford purchased it in 1935. He retrofitted it with a new generator for his factory. He had plans for establishing village industries across America but that ended with his death in 1947. The plant was sold in 1954 to Wolverine Manufacturing Company and they converted into a paper mill. In 1970, Wolverine sold the old mill to the city of Dundee for on dollar. After restoration it now serves the community as a museum.
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Prussian immigrant Michael Elowsky fled the turmoil brewing in Eastern Europe in 1862. He settled in Detroit, was joined by his family, and migrated to Presque Isle County around 1870. under President Lincoln’s Homestead Act of 1865, he obtained his land on the north branch of the Thunder Bay River near Posen at no cost. He built a log dam and moved a part of this structure from Trout River and eventually developed a complex of flour,shingle, siding, planing, and lathe milling operations. Residents of Metz, Posen, and Krakow townships brought grain and timber to this mill. With the help of Thomas Edison, Michael’s son Emil added a generator and electric lights to operate the mill 24 hours a day. When the Mill closed at the end of the harvest season in October of 1963, that became the last time it would operate. During the winter of 1963-4, a great amount of snow fell, so with the spring melt, a very great run-off on the river caused the original log dam to collapse. The great run off also wiped out the saw mill that the family had across the river on the south bank. All the equipment was left intact and remains to this day.
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Parker Mill sits in the appropriately named Parker Mill County Park situated between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. The grist mill was built by William Parker in 1873, along the Flemming Creek. After William died the mill was operated by his son and grandson until the 1960s. After the mill closed, it was purchased along with the land along the creek to create the county park. The mill still stands for visitors to see how grain was milled over a century ago. Visitors can also hike the trail along the creek to enjoy a bit of nature.
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Not far from the town of Saranac is an old mill with a sign on it that read Waterville Mill. It is all that remains of the old town of Waterville. In 1836 Robert Hilton from Grand Rapids purchased the large tract of land and platted a village he named Waterville. Hilton believed the town would prosper from people visiting it as they traveled along the Grand River Turnpike. To help the little town prosper he gave land to James Hoag to build a mill. In 1838 Hoag opened his mill and store and it became the post office for Waterville. Unfortunately, the turnpike never came through the little town. About a year after the post office opened it was moved to Saranac. The old mill with its whimsically painted boards covering the windows still stands as a reminder of the short lived town of Waterville. Hoag continued living in Waterville and ran his mill until a tree fell on him and killed him in 1851.
Please note: I do not give the exact location of the mill because it is privately owned. If you do know where it is please be respectful and do not trespass.
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The small town of Hadley sits between Lapeer in Clarkson in the southeast part of the state. It is where you will find the red and white Hadley Historic Mill. It was built in 1874 by Peter Slimmer along the small Mill Creek. The building once stood on stilts to allow water to pass beneath. The creek’s dam was removed in 1924 and the structure was converted from a gristmill to an electric power plant. Eventually it sat unused and by the late 60s it was turned into an office and apartment building. Now it has been converted into a park and museum known as the Hadley Mill Museum.
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I go to the baking isle in the grocery store and see all the little blue and white boxes of Jiffy Mix. They remind me of the grain elevator/plant in Chelsea where it is produced. It’s like a giant box of Jiffy Mix. It is nice to have products made in the USA but it is especially wonderful to get products made in Michigan. Now I am hungry for cornbread.
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This old grain elevator sits in Port Hope near Lake Huron in the Thumb. I grew up in the city and know very little about grain elevators but they are fascinating to me. They look like some sort of Rube Goldberg device with all the tubes, conveyors and chutes sticking out of them. It seems like almost every town in Michigan has one or at least had one.
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The Old Grain Elevator in Avoca between Imlay City and Port Huron. The town was founded in 1884 and named after the Avoca river valley in Ireland. It had a train station at one time, but it’s gone now, and the old elevator has not seen a train in some time. The town is the northern end of the Wadhams to Avoca rail trail.
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The Linden Mills were a vital source of this village’s economic growth. The first mill, located on land granted to Consider Warner, was used to cut lumber. From 1845-1850 Seth Sadler and Samuel W. Warren, local residents, erected both a saw and grist mill. Operating along with the earlier facility, this complex was called the Linden Mills. The grist mill continued to function for over a century until the machinery was dismantled and sold at auction in 1956. The village then purchased the building for municipal offices and a public Library.
Reminder: If you live in the Fenton area I will be giving a presentation on
January 29th from 2-4 pm
8420 Runyan Lake Road, Fenton, MI 48430
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